Locomotive-furnace grate



D. L. SHAFFER. LOCOMOTIVE FURNACE GRATE. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 16, 1916.

Patented Mar. 1; 1921 2 2 SHEETSSHEET imvm-on' 2 8% 7 w FIG-2 WC; mo -4.

Devin risnarr i e OFiPITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

noeoMorrivE-FunuAo n GRATE.

.' Specification of Letters l ate n t. Pat ted M r; 1 1921" a Applica tion fil ed June "is,- i'eie. SerialNo. 104 )57 i Toallwhom itmag comm.-. V j

Beit known that l,D v SnArrnR, a

resident of Pittsburgh, PlIl 'the' county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have inventedanew and useful Improvement in Locomotive-Furnace Grates of which the;

following is a specification-.1

My invention relates to steamjboilerf rim 1 Y .-,o names, and its general; obj ect is "to improve the efficien y-of such furnace b ge'lYinge la moreeven b ast and efficient combustion of. the fuel used therein; or

' Further objects 7 plet'e combustiongand to provide means for consuming a larger-amount f the Sn'lOkQ generated than is customary in the I present construction; Also my invention provides .v means for using eithe'r a'fl'uid or a solid fuel,

, ing :longerlifej'thaii'lthoseoust'omarily inf e i I p V i Y i 'i i h qke te 1 0W u gbe ausethere, 'willibein'o needjforiviolent exhausts.

or a fluid f t B ogether with a solidffuel,

furnishes means to quickly extinguish thei fire, and the particular'eonstructlon'for'se- I curing th'eseobjects includes grate barsh'av- These, and otherfadvantages whr'ch W111 i be plain? to those familiar with these struck in :the accompanying according tojmy invention; Fig. 2 is aplan tures, are attained 'by' a construction sueh as that below described," but Ido'not limit my- 1 self to any particular form of gr atebagjor hearing; or boiler, sinc'efmy' nvention can be'utilizediii-{avariety gofiforms. O ne embodimentof myinvention I i drawings; .wherein Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through locomotivejffire box constructed;

view of two grate bars in-normal position;

. Fig; 3 fiis'a" longitudinal" vertical: section? through one of the g ratebars on the line 3-;3 ofFiglQ; Fig; 4 is aivertical transverse :4

section through 'a part of the furnace, show: I ing the grate bars divided nto twosectlons':

\ and supportedat their middle ends ;".Fig.f 5"

is similar to Fig-{4 but shows'fa single grate bar extending across the furnace F g 6' is similar toi'Fi'g. 5 'but sh0ws modifications in.)

the mounting of'thefgratebar'; and Fig; is

- @afdiagram ofa pipej'arrangement for sup- I f the invention are to f secure greater heat from thefue'l, more com- 15 "In order tosecure' the' objects he is shown .I Prefe hat h g e rs" be any form of steam boiler, whether stationary, horizontal, upright, .or locomotive.

It has been customaryto form the bottom of boiler furnaces fromeast iron gratebars These have'been solid or" skeleton, and air to supportjc'ombustion was supplied by means bustion, and the completeness of consumption of the fuelFdepenolj largely-upon the free supplying ofoxygeiitheretoyit is essen tial that air I be forced evenly and ra idly throughout the "burning material. Efter combustion isstartefdtand a high degreeof of anj exhaustf through" the smokest'ack,

"gases o tfthe stack; Asthe heat-from 90m? heat e b L ained,"additional heat gen erated largely'depends upon the amountoff oz'rygen can be brought into contactwith the? burning material. The nozzle in i the 'ffront' end may be muchjlarger than} I usual, Stationary boilers willjnot need such '1' blower of the ordinarytype will ,Eb'e usediii: the st in l ea howev t d ewi the; fumes and gases out, as willlbeunderstoo Stated, h Prb ded a cons mmate.

per sides and connecting with-the cefiti'al openings "therein, and; Connections from the bars'to a source ofcompressed-air; By hav ing' these perforations in all of the'. bars,

' bodying'hollowgratefbars, having pejrfora .i l

tions'of any suitable size ,through'theirfnp- 1 v and? comparatively close. together; .ia ndi 'by r supplying the air under considerable pres-.=-

sure, enabled to givebafnf even and rapid draft through the entire body of burn ing ffuel. By this means I secure more com? plete combustiomwith the smallest possiblej, escape ofsmoke and unburnedgases aau 11,06"

mounted "in- -;the [furnace frame", and that I.

suitable means be' 'provi'ded for actuating them to shakejdown the ashesand brefak'up "theCinders. Also, two of the "bars 'mayjbe plying different flufidsto the hollow. grate" A v I 2 S h an 'e wellek na II t I th .g te o. Tbars being 'mounted'inj any suitable ma in'zj'th e furnace: wall. i

connected. so 1 as to "ffor1n ja"- dump grate;

heart; and

re n tjn u ia tor 'y' i vent rice nary furnace chamber; or fire box, which is formedjby crown plate 2', a'rearplate 8, a

flue plate 4:, and the grate 5. This fire box is surrounded by Water chamber 6, Which-is made up of the inner wall members 2, 3 and which havel late'rally eXtending fingers and whichiha've central perforations 1.4L from the top of the bar to the centralfhollow V I a piping arrangement byw'hich the engineer spaces 145 These grate bars are mounted in the side frame of the fire box, and their cast iron around a;

fingers are arranged afterthe ordinaryfisb bone constructionof grate, as shown infFig. 2; This is the preferredform, butany" class 7 I thegrate bars to extinguish the fire. The

pipe.22 leads to the air'supply tank1 18'. I It is controlled by a valve 23, before 1 its con-f nection to the main supply pipe 19, which.

of bars be used. V

-The' particular manner of constructing the hollow' grate barsis not a part of my in} be made by pouring ollowpipe, the pipe forming a centraljo-pen'ing 14?, through the 'bar, and the outer-mold being so shaped as to form the fingers 1'3 and general outer construction of the grate bar. I prefer to have extend through to both ends, and to close one end witha, removableplug '15,;as shown in Fig. 3, so'

vention, but they 'malylr the opening in the grate bar that by removing this plug the hollow bar may be cleaned. Alsoylprefer to cast the grate bars larger in the middle and taper-I ng to eachend, so'astoforma reinforce-i ment at themiddle portion to prev ent warp-f ing, and to generally strengthen the construction. Where the fire box is large, grate bars extending onlyhalf way across may be used, an'd'in that case a central bearing support 16is provided and'the closed ends of the grate barsare carried thereby, but I 'preferthesingle-bartype. The open ends of the bars' pass-through the wallsfof the furnaceand emerge'fonfthe .outside. This {passage maybe just above the mud ring 9,

r as shown in Fig; 4, orjust underneath it,- "1 as showninFig. 6. lnthelatter case 7 bearing 9*" is provided. Where the bars, or their'connectionsf, pass through the furnace walls, as in Figs..4 and 5, a sleeve 9 isfixed :in thewalls' as shown. The closediends'may also pass through thefurnacewalland be 7 exposed-as shownin F ig."6. 1A1 bearing 17 .ffengage aroundedfportion of the grate barsff which rpare' preferably rockably lmo-unted:

is provided onth'e inside offthe fire box to therein,

' From any convenient soure -"such astank 18, compressed air is supplied through a 'main 19, and flexible connections .20, v'vhiclr be "in 7 the. formof .jhose, to, the L open en is of't'he grate 1bars.'- -Valves 21. arepro jvided between the main 19' and'the open ;end$ .of the; grate bars, so that any indibelow.

It maybedesirable in some cases, to'heat vidual' bar may be cut out, for repair, to decrease the amount of fluid supplied,org for other purposes. A check valve 2P is provided toprev'ent the carrying of anything by back pressure into the tank 18.

By the construction above described air -may be supplied to each of the hollow grate bars,-and when forced therethro-ugh' escapes by the. perforations 14 throughout the entire mass of burning fuel. This airi'will In F 7.1 have shown diagrammatically I canshut oil the supply of airto the pipes,

and instead, supply steamy By. this. ar

rangement, also, water may be ,iforced' from runs to the hollow grate'barsL- Beyond the connection of pipe 22 to. pipe 19"ther'e'is a branchpip'e 24, controlled by a va1ve25,

'WlllCh in turn has branches 26 and 27, COiTI-' trolled by fvalves 28 and 29, respectively. The branch 26 connects with a steam .fsupply source, and the branch 27 with a water.

supply source. When airisbeing supplied to the grate the valve 23 isopen andthe valve 25 vc1osed.. To supply steamlthe lvalves 23 and 29: are closed and the valves '25 and.

28 opened. To supplyv water the valves: 23

and 28 are closed and the valves 25 and 29 opened. These operations will be. entirely obvious. An, arrangement by which. either.

the steam or airmay be heatedis described the air or dry the steambeforeforcingI it through grate bars. For this provide a seriesofbends 301nthe air'p'l e 22, saddlingthem'on,'and incontact wit 1,

the heated boiler surface, as partially shown inFigs. 1, and 7.. A bypass 33 may be pro" purpose 7 I f vided, having a valve 34, .so that' the'air i maybe used withoutpassing; through the.

heater coils. The steampipe 26 maybe. con nected to the heating ,coils, as byzextending pipe 26 'to'the, inlet-end of the coil and providing a valve 35 therein. It will be: understood that all of. the piping arrange ment is diagrammatic merely.

20.. It ill be obvious that anotheradvantage of ny inventionisthat the fiuid supply through the hollow. gratebars willtend to" f keep them cooler thanwould be the case with 7 solid; membl'sa @ndltherefore will add. to

their life. v ;I may also force through these grate bars a ffluidffu'el, such as. gas, or a mixture or steam and oil, andthereby aid combustion,

and secure a combined solid and gaseous I v I,369,939 I fuel supply. Such changes will be understood to apply. to different types of boiler furnaces and will be advisable or not according to the particular purposes for which the boiler is designed.

I claim 1. In a furnace, the combination of hollow perforated grate bars, a source of fluid pressure, connections therefrom to said hol low grate bars, a portion of said connection being formed as a heater, and a by-pass connectlon around said heater from the source of fluid pressure to said grate bars.

2. In a furnace, the combination of holof Watenfluid to said heater.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand. r

Witnesses: V

O. E. Cowman, J. Tnos. BnALn, 'JR.

perforated grate bars, a source of air 15 pressure, connections therefrom to said hol- 10w grate bars, a portion-of said connection being formed asa heater, a source of Water fluidconnected to said hollow grate bars; and a by-pass connection fromsaid source 20 7 DAVI L'.SHAFFER., Q 

